Muscogee County School Board finalizes superintendent’s evaluation

In a called meeting Monday evening, the Muscogee County School Board finalized the evaluation its leadership will administer to the superintendent.

Except for opening and closing the meeting in open session, the board conducted the discussion in closed session, as allowed by state law.

After the meeting, board chairman Rob Varner of District 5 explained the evaluation process.

Several weeks ago, each board member received a form to fill out on a numbered scale their assessment of superintendent David Lewis’ performance in various areas. The form is based on the Georgia School Boards Association’s instrument and tweaked for the Muscogee County School District’s purposes.

The board members submitted their forms to Varner, who consolidated the information and calculated the average scores.

“Then we spent most of the time in there tonight really talking about what are some of the comments the board wants (vice chairwoman) Pat Hugley Green and I to take back to Dr. Lewis when we meet with him, hopefully this week, and do his formal evaluation,” Varner said. “The numbers don’t always tell the story, so now we have the words behind them.”

State law allows the board to keep confidential the documents pertaining to the superintendent’s evaluation. Varner declined to describe even in general terms the board’s assessment of Lewis, but he characterized it as a “healthy and honest and candid discussion. It’s what it should be and what it was.”

Asked whether it was civil, he said, “Oh, yeah, very civil.”

Frank Myers of District 8, the board’s most outspoken critic of the administration, was the only representative on the nine-member board absent from the meeting. Lewis also didn’t attend.

“Everybody had the opportunity to speak,” Varner said of the closed session, which lasted approximately 1 hour and 45 minutes. “We were there longer than I thought we would be, so there was a lot of conversation.”

As far as the superintendent’s contract, Varner said he expects the board to have a recommendation to vote on during the Dec. 12 meeting, which will combine the monthly work session and action meeting into one. Varner declined to say what the recommendation will be.

“I need to talk to David about it before I can talk about it publicly,” he said.

Lewis’ current three-year contract has been extended by one year each year since the original contract started after he was hired in July 2013 from Polk County, Fla., where he was an associate superintendent. Three years is the maximum length of a superintendent’s contract, according to state law, Varner said.

Lewis’ base salary of $170,000 hasn’t changed since its inception. His compensation package also includes health and retirement benefits, a car allowance of $600 per month and professional association expenses.

Asked whether Lewis’ salary will be adjusted, Varner said, “You’ll hear about that next week too.”

This story was originally published December 5, 2016 at 9:11 PM with the headline "Muscogee County School Board finalizes superintendent’s evaluation."